Manila, July 9 -- Reelected Leyte First District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has filed a bill seeking to modernize the country's Bank Secrecy Law to empower regulators to better combat corruption, fraud, and other financial crimes that continue to undermine public trust.

House Bill 7, which Romualdez filed at the opening of the 20th Congress, seeks to amend Republic Act (RA) 1405 to allow the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to examine bank deposits, including foreign currency accounts, under strict and limited conditions where there is reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity.

In pushing for the passage of the measure, he pointed out that while the Bank Secrecy Law was originally intended to promote savings and banking confidence...